Rising cost of taking a puff

ALBANY — Smoke ‘em while you can afford ‘em: After July 1, a pack of cigarettes will cost New Yorkers another $1.60, bringing the state’s excise tax from $2.75 to $4.35.

Lawmakers on Monday passed the tax hike along with a controversial measure that will trigger tax collections on Indian reservations starting Sept. 1.

The tobacco tax increase marked the latest budgetary victory for Gov. David Paterson, who has been forcing through parts of his 2010-11 spending plan one week at a time in lieu of the full year’s budget, which was supposed to be completed April 1.
Read the full story here.

With cigarette tax going up another $1.60, bringing the total excise tax to $4.35, a pack of cigarettes will cost around $10. If you are a smoker, do you think the tax hike is warranted or do you feel directly targeted/pressured to comply? Share your reaction here.

82 Responses

Again we have the Poltiicans Punishing the taxpayer for their bad financial decisions and voting records, but even better they are only Punishing a specific segement of voters which appears to be OK with all the other Voters who do not smoke..Fair and Balanced Taxation,,Nope, not even close….and believe me, it has nothing to do with getting people to stop smoking it’s all about the money and the fact they have “gotten away with it” a number of times…It is discrimination and nothing else but!

The Nazis pulled the same tactics against the Jews, managing to get the average German mentally prepared for killing a small segement of the Population, the Jews, and by the millions, which supposed benefited the majority…No difference here, just a different segment of the population..

They probably could settle the State’s finanical problems in two weeks by Taxing Woemens make-up which I believe they are addicted too and why not?….Polticial Hypocrites? You betcha! And you voted for them……

NY seems to drive more and more business out of the state. Large groups of folks (me included) are pooling resources to make regular frequent trips to Mass. for cigarettes – WE DON’T LOVE NY.
How about slapping a “sales” tax on gambling in NYS – if you play, you pay. Each wager made at a racino, track, etc. or each lottery ticket purchased would be taxed – same as buying other services. Another idea, slap a hefty tax on each NYS lawmaker for EACH DAY that the budget is late. In my job, if I missed a dead-line year after year after year, heck, I’d be out of a job. A daily tax would certainly move things along.

This state is in a sorry financial situation. One would have to assume that it was from all the careless waste and spending. Whatever, the situation exists, and we need a quick fix. Being a mother of three children, not always having enough income to pay all the bills…you get creative! Taxing cigarettes and violating Indian treaties is not the solution. After all, didn’t we learn anything from prohibition and history?? There could be many criminal reactions from this brainy idea. And then there will be more problems to solve, more policing, more court proceedings, and more people in prison, costing the state even more money. If I were the state, this is what I would do to try to generate more income. Start a new lottery game, and not one with odds of winning equal to getting struck by lightening, twice, while vacationing in Siberia. They could call this one the “Get Out of The Hole” game. Now I’m not a mathematician, but I’m sure the state could figure the logistics out.
Then again……. oh well anyway here is an example of how it could work:
Players pick 5 numbers say from 1 to 30. Lottery draws 10 numbers. Now the odds of winning smaller amounts to lots of people are pretty good I would think. I’d even buy a ticket. I’d be happy to win a couple of hundred dollars for a dollar, and so would many others. The winnings should be tax free under $2500. The state could split the pot 50-50 with the game. The lottery game proceeds could be split as follows, 50% goes to be divided among all the 5 number holders, 25% for 4 numbers, 15% for 3, and 10% for 2. The state could take in many millions of dollars quickly, and a LOT of New Yorkers could win a little extra cash weekly for whatever. It could even stimulate the economy! Lawmakers, you need to get creative and stop harassing smokers and Indians and raising taxes to balance your spending!

I am not a smoker and have never been one. I tried it a couple of times in high school but would only puff it instead of inhaling. Even then, I had mental pictures of that smoke making my lungs black. (We’re talking mid-sixties, here, when the dangers were unknown).

But, I contend that the additional taxation of cigarettes to try and balance a state budget in which our elected officials fail to stop unnecessary spending is not only outrageous, but, criminal. Adding this additional tax is NOT going to stop smokers from smoking. What it will do is take money set aside for food/clothing/medical bills, etc., from addicted, impoverished people, so that they can continue to support their habit. A habit, I might add, long supported by our government. To make smoking illegal would create another underworld/illegal market for smokers as with street drugs. Therefore, smokers are going to smoke one way or the other.

Additionally, breaking treaties made so long ago is an injustice to the American Indians. Haven’t they already given up enough? It’s too bad that the State doesn’t like non-Indians procuring their “smokes” from the reservations. I, for one, do not like the way my elected officials spend my tax dollars. Is that going to change? Oh, that’s right: the old cliché’ is, “You can’t fight city hall”!

Fast forward to the “sugar tax”. Does one really think that the government cares about our obesity? What a joke! It’s just one more fabricated excuse to increase taxes. Again, money reserved for necessities will be used to continue to purchase sugary drinks. Who will suffer? The children, of course!

In closing, NYS government is forcing people and businesses to leave NYS due to the government’s ineptitude and continuance of raising taxes over and over again. We New Yorkers do not deserve this continued, callous approach to operating our State Government.

Get it together, Patterson and company! Cut back on your own spending and leave the law-abiding citizens alone. Haven’t we already lost enough with this tragic economic state of affairs?

Dear Gov. Patterson and all the law makers in Albany,
I call for a new tax to help ease the burdon on the state. I want to see a lobby for a ‘COFFEE TAX’. Think about it – caffine is addictive, drinkers usually use sugar and cream which ofcourse would be covered under your so-called “fat tax” and it would generate millions a year of positive cash flow. I suggest a .25 cent tax on every cup of coffee sold and I estimate on the low side that two million people a day would order a coffee and that would net NYS $500,000.00 a DAY!! As the months pass you can do what you did with cigarettes and increase the tax slowly so that every single one of you will be sitting in a plush Lazyboy chair (paid for by coffee drinkers) as you sit at the Capital and create these laws. What you have done is increase the revenue generated in our neighboring states :::applause!!::: GOOD JOB GUYS!

The reason they won’t tax coffee or booze the way they tax cigs is because the legislators like coffee and booze and are not going to tax themselves like that. Just image a $1.60 tax added to every six pack of beer or pound of coffee. There would be hell to pay. They target the smokers because they can. All I can do is cut out more from my budget-eating out, lottery, alcohol, fast food take-out etc. I’d rather have my smokes than those types of things! One thing this tax has done is make me realize that I am not retiring in N.Y. I’m taking my public pension, education, experience and life savings and moving out!

They should tax stupidity, but they would have a monopoly, and couldn’t afford the tax Resist and fight back NY. This gov’t needs to be taught some manners! Vote Em Out NY’ers!
What are they going to steal from you next?

why dont the smokers just buy loose tobacco and roll their own? as far as i know loose tobacco and rolling papers are pretty cheap and must not be part of this new tax–so if alot of smokers simply do this, or if they can afford just buy cigs in different states than the state wont get much more revenue and can move on to a more productive tax scheme–taxing us for the air we breathe!

The new york politicos state this additional cigarette tax is for “health concerns of nys,” however, it is a wonderful, convenient vehicle for increased tax revenues by nys. One wonders what excuse they cite when increasing the yearly exorbitate tax on property!!!!

Ex-social services — thank you for planning to leave NY. Wish more smokers would. In a few years when your lung cancer cost the healthcare system a gazillion dollars, the folks in NY won’t be stuck with the bill.

I have invested in the “smokeless” electric cigarette. It is nicotine vapor instead of smoke and i can smoke it anywhere. And it is far cheaper in the long run and cannot cause lung cancer, and they make them in menthol also. worth every penny.

I think they should address the obesity issue in this state the same way smokers have be stigmatized…The anti-smoking approach has obviously worked…McDonald’s meals ect. should go up to about $10. I was at McD’s last week for a salad and I watched a kid about 10 years old, about 195lbs chow down 2 big Mac value meals while his parents proudly watched and did the same thing…They also sat there and joked about their weight and size……I just don’t see the humor in being a glutton???